Manually-operated railway-brake.



Patented Sept. 13, 1910.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 9, 1909.

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A. A. SEARWAY.

MANUALLY OPERATED RAILWAY BRAKE. APPLICATION FILED 1110.9, 190s,

970,402. Patented sept. 13,1910.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEX A. SEARWAY, 0F BUFFALO CREEK, COLORADO.

MANUALLY-OPERATEI) RAILWAY-BRAKE.

Toall whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEx A. SnAnwAr, a citizen of the United States,residing at Buffalo Creek, county of Jefferson, and State of Colorado,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Manually-OperatedRailway-Brakes; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and t0 the letters and figuresof reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in manually operated brakes forrailway cars, my object being to provide a novel construction of thisclass in which the brakes may be quickly and easily applied.

The chief element of my improved construction consists of a doublecone-shaped, operating drum. Connected with one of the cone members isthe rope or cable, which is directly connected with the hand-operatedstem or shaft; while the other cone member is suitably connected withthe mechanism for setting the brakes. By virtue of the two cone members,it becomes practicable to rotate the drum rapidly, for the purpose oftaking up the slack at the beginning of the operation, while after theslack is taken up, the pull upon the cone member connected with theoperating shaft is upon a portion of the member of larger diameter, thusgiving increased leverage, whereby the drum is more slowly operated, theleverage increasing and the rapidity of movement diminishing, as thebrakes approach the limit of their application. In other words, thecable member, which is directly connected with the manually operatedshaft, is wound upon the one cone member, so that at the beginning ofthe brake-setting operation, the cable connected with the manuallyoperated shaft ulls from a portion of the cone member ofp relativelysmall diameter, the diameter increasing during the rotation of the drum,whereby the slack is rapidly taken up, as aforesaid, after which therotary movement is slower wit-h a corresponding lever advantage.

Having briefly outlined my improved construction, I will proceed todescribe the same in detail, reference being made to the ac- Specicatonof Letters Patent.

Application filed August 9, 1909.

Patented Sept. 13, 1910.

Serial No. 512,094.

companying drawing, in which is illustrated an embodiment thereof.

In this drawing: Figure l is a top plan view of my improved brakemechanism, shown in connection with suitable apparatus for utilizing theair brakes. The object of this view is to emphasize the fact that myimproved construction operates in perfect harmony with the regular airbrake mechanism. Fig. 2 is a similar view of my improved constructionshown in detail and on a larger scale.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the views.l

Let the numeral 5, designate a frame work which may be of any suitableconstruction, the same being secured below the body of the car. As shownin the drawing, this frame includes two parallel side bars 6, and twoend beams 7. In one of these beams is journaled the vertically-disposed,manually-0perated shaft or stem 8, with which is connected one extremityof a cable 9, the opposite extremity of the said cable being connectedwith one of the cones 10, as shown at 14^. This cone member 10, togetherwith a similar member 12, compose what I term' the brake-operating drum13. Another cable designated 14, has one of its extremities connectedwith the cone member 12, as shown at 15; while the opposite extremity ofthe cable 14, is connected with the brake-rod 16, leading to a lever 17,fulcrumed at 18, and connected by a link 19, with a lever 20, the latterbeing fulcrumed at 21, and connected by means of a chain 22, with thepiston stem 23, of an air-brake cylinder 24. The stem 23 is alsoconnected by means of a link 25, with a brake-rod 2G.

If we assume that the brakes are set by the use of the air-brakecylinder, the stem 23, will be moved outwardly or toward the left, andthe chain 22, slackened. Hence, no matter how tightly the brakes may beset by the use of the air, my improved, handoperated brake mechanism maybe released at will, since the slack in the chain 9,2, gives ampleopportunity for turning the brake shaft 8, forwardly a suflicientdistance to release the 'atchet and pawl mechanism for holding the shaft8, in the brake-setting position. As shown in the drawing, the cable 14,passes between two guide rollers 27, whereby the friction is reduced toa minimum.

In describing the operation of my improved construction, it must beassumed when the mechanism is in the position illustrated in Fig. 2,that the brakes are applied or that the brake-setting operation isapproaching completeness. Hence at the time of the beginning .of theoperation, it may be assumed that the cables are in the positionillustrated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, in which event the leverage uponthe drum 13, exerted by the pull of the cable 9, will be approximatelythat indicated by the distance between the dotted lines A and B in Fig.2; while the leverage utilized by the same cable, when the parts are inthe position shown by full lines in Fig. 2, may be indicatedapproximately by the distance between the two dotted lines C and D. Atthis time it may also be assumed that the cable 14, is slack and thatvery little power is required in taking it up. It is thereforeadvantageous to rotate the drum quickly during the taking up of theslack. Hence, assuming that the cable 9, is in the dotted line position,it will be understood that the winding of a given length of cable uponthe operating shaft 8, will turn the drum a greater number of times,when the cable engages the cone where the diameter of the latter isrelatively small; at the same time, since the cable 14, engages the cone12, where the latter is relatively large, it will be understood that thedrum 13, is rotated relatively rapidly at the beginning of theoperation, thus causing the winding of the cable 14, relatively rapidlyupon the cone 12, the rapidity of movement of the drum cooperating withthe relatively large diameter of the cone 12, which the cable 14,initially engages at the beginning of the operation, to effectually andrapidly perform the brake-setting function.

As illustrated in the drawing, the drum 13, is composed of the two conemembers 10 and 12, having journals 2S, which engage bearings in the sidebars 6, of the frame. Each of the cone members 10 and 12, is providedwith a spiral groove 29, the grooves forming ways which the cablemembers engage. These grooves are reversely arranged, that is to say,the one is a right hand and the other a left hand spiral. This being thecase with both cables connected at the same evd-ica tion of the cable 9,is the operation of the drum 13, or the rotation of the latter; whilethe function to be performed by the cable 14, is that of operating thebrake-setting mechanism. (See Fig. 1.) Hence in order to operate orrotate the drum for brakesetting purposes, the cable 9, must be unwoundfrom its cone 1() simultaneously with the winding of the cable 14 on itscone 12.

In the drawing, the hand wheel for operating the shaft 8, is indicatedby dotted lines in both views and the arrow adjacent to the wheelindicates the direction of the latters rotation for brake-settingvpurposes.

From the foregoing description the use of my improved construction willbe readily understood and need not be described fur-4 ther in detail.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

The combination with a brake mechanism and a hand operated device, of adrum equipped with two cone members respectively provided with right andleft hand spiral grooves, one of said members tapering to the base ofthe other member and integrally formed therewith, a frame in which thecone members are horizontally journaled, guide rollers positioned at oneextremity of the frame, cables connected with the cone members andextending in opposite directions, one cable leading to the hand operateddevice and the other passing between the guide rollers and leading tothe brake mechanism, whereby one cable is unwound from one conesimultaneously with the winding of the other cable upon the other cone,for brake-setting purposes, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALEX A. SEARWAY.

Vitnesses:

A. QI. OBRIEN, A. EBERT OBRIEN.

